Company Overview                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The Pharo Foundation (the “Foundation”) is a privately funded entrepreneurial organisation that runs philanthropic programmes as well as for-profit social enterprises. The Vision of the Foundation is an economically vibrant and inclusive Africa. The Mission is to achieve the vision by investing in the human and physical capital of Africa, with an emphasis on job creation.

Established in 2011, the Foundation has already carried out more than 30 projects in Ethiopia, and Somaliland, as well as Uganda and South Sudan. The key themes on the philanthropic side of the Foundation are education, health, water and agriculture.  The Foundation’s latest landmark project is our girls boarding school based in the Benishangul Gumuz region with a capacity of 240 students, a testament to the Foundation’s dedication to Ethiopia.

Headquartered in London, the Foundation also has an operational HQ in Nairobi and offices in Hargeisa, Addis Ababa and Assosa, 

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a HR Manager to join The Pharo Foundation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. You will be motivated by the opportunity to play a key role in the success of multiple programmes in the country.

Collaborating with the senior teams in Addis and Nairobi you will be at the forefront of defining and implementing the human capital strategy across a diverse portfolio of programmes in Ethiopia. Critical to success in this role will be your ability to help infuse the vision, mission and values of the Foundation and create the culture that derives from these principles. With the Foundation’s ambition to grow as a large private sector employer in Ethiopia, your role in ensuring a positive employee experience is key to the overall success of the Foundation. You will therefore define and lead the organisation’s approach to employee engagement in country.

This strategic HR position requires you to understand the objectives and goals of the Foundation and to work with the teams to create human capital strategies that align with these objectives in Ethiopia. Capable of being a mentor and guide to your HR reports, and beyond to the rest of the organisation in Ethiopia, you will help them to implement best practice HR policies and procedures. The challenge will be to ensure a uniformity of excellence in the HR function whilst accounting for diverse operating environments.

Sharing the Foundation’s passion for talent development, you will create a comprehensive talent management programme in Ethiopia. This will be a wide-ranging scheme, which includes talent management, succession planning, building talent pipelines, creating career progression learning and development programmes, retention strategies and all the other aspects required to promote individual satisfaction, team harmony and ensure exceptional overall performance.

Key duties and responsibilities in coordination with the Head HR in Nairobi, Kenya

Human Resources Development and Management

• To expand and strengthen our Ethiopian team by recruiting and retaining the best talent possible domestically and from the diaspora.
• To identify the training needs of employees and ensure processes are in place to support and encourage appropriate personal and professional development of staff within the context of the organisational objectives.
• To provide solid leadership, inspiration and mentorship to the team.
• To ensure that an employee handbook and other guidelines are compliant with the Foundation’s HR policies and the local employment law and regulations are updated on a regular basis.

Security, Health and Safety

• To ensure that the health and safety policy is regularly reviewed, and all staff are aware of this policy and follow its guidelines
• To ensure that risk assessments of all Foundation places of work are performed regularly.
• To comply with other relevant policies and procedures as they are developed.

Talent management

• Implement best practice talent policies and procedures and create a comprehensive talent management programme in Ethiopia.
• Build talent pipelines and create career development programmes.
• Develop retention strategies and all other aspects required to promote individual satisfaction, team harmony and ensure exceptional overall performance.

 Culture and performance management

• Screening and on-boarding – to enable processes to be in place to ensure new employees are a culture fit and are aligned and fully understand The Pharo Foundation values of passion and respect, creativity and entrepreneurship, trust and accountability. Help manage exit process for those that do not.
• Drive performance management processes with transparent KPIs.

Benefits:

• A competitive base pay commensurate with experience.
• Medical insurance cover
• Career growth through on-job training and developmental opportunities across The Pharo Foundation.

Dual Reporting to:

• Adminstrative: The Foundation Country Representative based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Functional: The Foundation Head of Human Resources based in Nairobi, Kenya

Functional Relationships:

• The Foundation team in Addis Ababa
• Head of Finance, Addis, Ethiopia
• Headmistress and Head of HR of Pharo School
• Pharo Farms Manager

External Relationships, among others:

• Employment authorities and government stakeholders
• Employment service providers

Direct reports:

• HR teams in Ethiopia

Qualification Requirements

• Possess a postgraduate qualification (minimum required is Bachelors’ Degree but Masters’ Degree is preferred) and/or membership of a professional association.
• A minimum of eight (8) years professional experience; three (3) of these must have been in senior management roles.
• Prior experience of working across diverse entities or subsidiaries is a distinct advantage but as a minimum, each candidate must be able to demonstrate strong HR leadership in sizeable companies or divisions.
• An excellent bilingual communicator, written and spoken, in Amharic and English.
• Deep understanding of Ethiopian labour laws, standards and legal requirements. 

Behavioural Competencies

• Strong and charismatic individual with solid pedigree and experience of working for and leading the HR function in significant organisations.
• Superb management skills: able to manage and motivate a wide variety of employees from diverse backgrounds in a professional and compelling manner.
• You respect and understand the local culture and values and yet embrace and can work within international work ethics and standards.
• Problem solving and creative thinking skills: the ability to get results in unstructured environments, solid track record for growing businesses and implementing best practice policies and processes.
• Self-assured, internally motivated and passionate individual with outstanding communication skills driven to succeed and make a difference.
• Must possess high levels of integrity, resilience, accountability, commitment and determination
• Data-driven in decision-making